Fort Stockton

Located on Presidio Hill overlooking Old Town San Diego, Fort Stockton was an earthen U.S. military fort established on July 29, 1846, a couple of months after the start of the Mexican-American War (1846-1849). It was initially named Fort DuPont after Captain Samuel F. DuPont, who commanded the USS Cyane, which sailed into San Diego that day. The Americans abandoned the fort in October but recaptured it in November and renamed it after Admiral Robert F. Stockton. The site was previously home to a fort built by Mexican troops in 1838. Today, the site features a flagpole with an American flag, historical markers, and a mural and statue commemorating the Mormon Battalion.

Until the end of the Mexican-American War, what is now California was part of Mexican territory called Alta California ("Upper California"), and San Diego was a small town that had grown around the Presidio de San Diego, the old Spanish fort. San Diego had become an important center of commerce for the leather hide trade and a resupply stop for whaling ships. Mexican forces built the fort in 1838 (one source says 1837) to help protect the town.

The Mexican-American War began in May 1846. In the coming months, American naval ships of the Pacific Squadron sailed from Hawaii to the West coast to seize control of the ports of Monterey, San Pedro, and San Diego. The USS Cyane arrived in San Diego with 120 sailors and marines, 165 men of the California Battalion, frontiersman and U.S. Army officer Kit Carson, and five Delaware Indian scouts. A group rowed ashore and made their way up to the abandoned fort. They raised an American flag and proceeded to rebuild the fort. Some members of the California Battalion remained to occupy it while the Cyane and the remainder of the U.S. forces left for Los Angeles.

In early October, however, the Americans abandoned the fort and took refuge on a whaling ship after learning that 50 Mexican vaqueros were ordered to retake San Diego. Mexican forces retook the fort and added two cannons. Meanwhile, some of the Americans sailed to Los Angeles to seek help. A chartered whaling ship carrying reinforcements arrived and laid siege to the town for 30-40 days, during which skirmishes occurred almost daily. On October 26, Mexican reinforcements reached San Diego to push the Americans out. However, four days later, 40 marines arrived aboard the USS Congress. Mexican forces attacked the American line but failed to break through. A pair of local American sympathizers, Santiago Arguello and Miguel de Pedrorena, led a successful attack on the fort that forced the Mexicans to retreat. Now back in American hands, Admiral Stockton ordered it reinforced, which included the addition of around 12 cannons, in anticipation of a Mexican attack. In March 1847, the Mormon Battalion arrived to occupy the fort, which by then had seven cannons. They remained until the war came to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848. At that point, the fort was abandoned for good.

Denger, Mark J. "Forts DuPont and Stockton." Military Museum. Accessed August 9, 2023. https://www.militarymuseum.org/DuPont-Stockton.html.

"Fort Dupont/Fort Stockton San Diego, Alta California." California Pioneer. Accessed August 9, 2023. https://californiapioneer.com/mormon-battalion/fort-dupont-fort-stockton-san-diego-alta-california.

"Fort Stockton." The Historical Marker Database. Accessed August 9, 2023. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=229661.